Sony PlayStation 3 Now Officially Supports Blu-Ray 3D

Sony Computer Entertainment has released a new firmware for its PlayStation 3 game console that enables support of Blu-ray 3D movies (BD 3D) playback. The company hopes that this would boost popularity of its Bravia stereo-3D HDTVs as well as stereoscopic 3D (S3D) technology in general.

The PlayStation 3 firmware version 3.50 enables playback of Blu-ray 3D movies on the PS3 provided that appropriate TV-sets and HDMI are used. The BD 3D playback support comes with a number of limitations, including lack of lossless audio support during playback of S3D movies, possible issues with menus as well as possible issues with BD-J feature.

The firmware update momentarily transforms millions of PlayStation 3 video game consoles into BD 3D players, an exceptional move to popularize the new stereo-3D standard. Still given the fact that in order to enjoy Blu-ray 3D movies a new TV-set along with special glasses are required and there are virtually no movies available, the update will hardly make any actual difference for the market in short-term.

Earlier this year Sony enabled stereo-3D video games on its PS3 console.